Manage Eco-Anxiety, Build Resilience,  and Thrive in Uncertainty

Discover how to manage eco-anxiety, embrace your environmental identity, and thrive in uncertainty with climate psychologist Thomas Doherty.

In this episode of Eco Scale Radio, host Jim Oliver sits down with climate psychologist Thomas Doherty to explore the emotional complexities of the climate crisis.

Thomas introduces powerful concepts like “personal sustainability,” the “climate elephant,” “environmental identity,” and the critical role of values in building climate resilience.

He offers listeners practical tools to navigate eco-anxiety, grief, and uncertainty.

Drawing on decades of experience, Thomas shares insights from his book, Surviving Climate Anxiety: Coping, Healing, and Thriving on a Changing Planet and his podcast, Climate Change and Happiness.

If you’re concerned about the planet’s future, this episode is packed with wisdom and actionable advice.

This episode is a must-listen for anyone seeking clarity, resilience, and purpose in the face of climate change.

Explore how climate psychology can help us navigate overwhelming times and build meaningful connections.

In this episode of Eco Scale Radio, Jim Oliver speaks with Linda Aspey, a leadership coach, psychotherapist, and board member of the Climate Psychology Alliance, about eco-anxiety, climate distress, and the emotional resilience needed to navigate the crises of the 21st century.

Together, they explore how defense mechanisms like denial and disavowal shape our collective response to climate change and practical strategies for nurturing emotional wellbeing.

Linda also shares inspiring ways to reconnect with nature, community, and actionable hope in these uncertain times.

Linda’s ability to shine the light on and give names to many of the experiences we are facing gives people the ability to better navigate the changing landscape we are living in.

How should humans respond to the impact of climate change and loss of biodiversity?

Should we double down with more technology or should we sit back and let nature reset itself?

What roll does biophilia play in our response?

In this interview with Christopher J. Preston, author of Tenacious Beasts and expert in wildlife, technology, and climate change, we discuss:

• animals coming back from the brink of extinction

• whales and whale vomit

• The Great Whale Conveyor

• the impact of bison on creeks and forests

• the impact beavers have on land and water

• the impact fashion has on beavers

• the impact of sea otters on kelp

• indigenous people's relationship with sea otters

• the Shifting Baseline Syndrome

• and much much more.

I hope this conversation helps change the way you look at wildlife, technology, and climate change. And hopefully stokes up your sense of biophilia (your love and connection with nature).

And perhaps motivate you to take proactive steps to help innovate and implement solutions to the many challenges that we are facing.

Christopher J. Preston is a writer and professor based in Missoula, MT.

His academic research centers on wildlife, technology, and climate change.

Christopher has written for The Atlantic, Smithsonian Magazine, Discover, Orion, The Conversation, the Wall Street Journal, and The BBC. 

His recent book Tenacious Beasts: Wildlife Recoveries That Change How We Think About Animals investigates a number of species that came back from the brink of extinction.

Tenacious Beasts was listed by the New Yorker as one of their Best Books of 2023. And won the 2024 High Plains Book Award for non-fiction.

His previous book, The Synthetic Age: Out designing Evolution, Resurrecting Species, and Reengineering Our World, has been translated into six languages and won a silver medal from Nautilus in the ecology and environment category.

Christopher gives talks in state parks, libraries, and breweries across Montana to audiences interested in conservation and technology.

In early 2023, he won an annual award from the International Society for Environmental Ethics for his work as a public philosopher.

Business Growth + Science-Based Positive Impact

How to Create a Viral Customer Experience That Makes a Positive Regenerative Impact...

Impact You Can Trust

Handprint is the sum of your positive impact.

Footprint is the sum of your negative impact.

For Companies: What if your company could...

• make engaging in climate action profitable

• make regenerative sustainability your competitive advantage?

• become a part of the new regenerative economy by integrating planet-positive actions into business activities in a profitable and seamless way?

For Regenerative NGOs: What if your Impact Projects could get access to a global network of sponsors?

In this Eco Scale Radio episode Mathias describes how his company Handprint helps impact entrepreneurs and NGOs do all this and much more.

Plastic is everywhere.

It’s almost impossible to live your life without plastic these days.

Our society has become dependent on plastic in all aspects of life, including: household goods, food processing, packaging, personal care products, and medical applications.

More than 13,000 chemicals are used to make plastics.

Over 350 million metric tons of plastic waste are discarded annually.

The widespread presence of plastics and their degradation products in the environment leads to inevitable exposure through the food we eat and the air we breathe.

This exposure to plastic chemicals carries various health risks, particularly due to the chemical composition of plastics and their ability to disrupt biological processes.

A team of scientists at the Minderoo Foundation in Australia (in collaboration with Australian research institutes) asked two powerful questions:

• What is the impact of plastics on human health?

• How can we innovate safer plastic alternatives?

The team recently spent 3 years screening more than 100,000 papers to find studies on plastic getting into the human body and how it could be harming our health.

After doing this screening, they came up with 3,500 primary studies on plastic health from 1960 to 2022.

These finding have been used to create the first-of-its-kind interactive Plastic Health Map, which maps the existing research on the effects of plastic chemicals on human health.

The Plastic Health Map is also a tool that can help us develop safer plastic alternatives and help us transition to a world where plastic is more sustainable, safer, and free of toxic chemicals.

In this Eco Scale Radio episode I have the good fortune of interviewing Louise Goode and Manuel Brunner from the Minderoo Foundation.

Louise is the Principal Researcher at Minderoo Foundation.

She is involved in research into the impact of plastics on human health at the Minderoo Foundation.

She’s like the research wrangler who helps her team make this Map a reality.

Manuel is a chemist with a PhD from the University of Western Australia. In his role as Principal, Chemistry and Research at the Minderoo Foundation, he explores how we can create a sustainable chemical and plastics industry.

In this conversation they describe the Plastic Health Map and the challenges of innovating plastic alternatives... and much more.

After you hear this podcast interview, you will never see plastic the same way again.

In this episode of Eco Scale Radio we talk with Jorge Lopez-Doriga, the Chief Communication and Sustainability Officer for a global beverage company called AMAYU with headquarters in Peru.

By the way, Jorge is also a Zen teacher of the Zen River monastery in Holland. Jorge runs the Zen River centers in Lima and Madrid.

In this interview you’ll see how Zen influences his work at AMAYU

AMAYU is a global beverage company that uses wild Amazonian superfruits to help:

• protect primary forests and biodivesity
• empower indigenous communities around the world.

AMAYU is the World’s First Certified Climate Positive Fruit Juice.

AMAYU is creating sustainable value chains in Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, and Thailand.

AMAYU is working directly with indigenous communities and helping to preserve hundreds of thousands of hectares of pristine amazonian forest.

AMAYU works with land that covers over 8 million hectares.

The land where they collect fruit, is 200,000 hectares.

AMAYU works with 25 indigenous communities.

And 500 families benefit from this collaboration.

AMAYU’s mission is to “return to Mother Earth all that Mother Earth has given to us.”

In this interview, Jorge describes:

• How Zen practice can influence sustainability work.
• How if we want to have a civilization by the year 2050, we need companies to change their role. Companies need to move from the Industrial Revolution to the Natural Revolution, where “consumers” are replaced by “conscious users.”
• How a conscious user needs to ask three questions before making a purchase

Jorge also describes

• What we can learn from the forest
• What AMAYU learns by working with indigenous communities

Jorge also describes his company’s “Triple Win” business model and much, much more.

How green is the money in your savings and investments?

What is your bank doing with that money?

Are they investing it in things you would never support in a million years?

Does the money in your bank account have an impact on climate change?

On pollution?  On diversity in the workplace? On biodiversity?  On Clean Energy? On Big Pharma? On Big Tobacco?

Surprise the money in your bank account is NOT neutral, it has a footprint.

Did you know that your current bank account and pension could be having double the carbon impact of going vegan, quitting flying, and choosing the bike over the car, COMBINED. 

Our guest today is Dan Sherrard-Smith, the founder of MotherTree and he says:

“The money we have going into our banks is the biggest leaver we have to create a healthy vibrant world.”

You have the power to fund the future you want.

In this interview, you’ll discover how you can use your finances to support positive causes that align with your values.

In this conversation with Vaughn Tan, you’ll discover how the most effective and innovative teams in the world come up with new ideas, new ways of doing things, and new ways of thinking by strategically working WITH Uncertainty and using a few design principles.

Do you know the difference between Risk and Uncertainty?

Are they the same? Do you treat them the same?

If you don’t know the difference between Risk and Uncertainty and you are in charge of creating innovative solutions to address Risky and Uncertain situations then you may end up using the wrong tools and end up wasting valuable time, money, and resources.

This is especially true when creating innovative solutions in the world of climate change, sustainability, and regeneration.

Innovative people and teams know how to embrace Uncertainty and use it to create innovative solutions. You can too, if you use the strategies we discuss in this interview with Vaughn Tan.

Do you know how to be Productive in Uncertainty?

What tools should you use for a Risk situation?

What tools should you use for an Uncertain situation?

We cover all this and much more in our conversation with Vaughn Tan.

“I want the industry to thrive in a new way.”

Jeremy Sampson is using his skills as a Nudge-Meister and a Cat Wrangler to change the world of travel and tourism.

As CEO of The Travel Foundation, Jeremy strives to maximize the benefits of tourism for people AND nature.

Jeremy is a globally recognized leader and alliance builder, advocating for systems change aimed at improving the  impact of the travel and tourism sector on communities and the climate crisis. 

In his current role as CEO of nonprofit The Travel Foundation, Jeremy oversees a global team which has transformed  the agenda-setting organization into the leading  independent international NGO in the tourism sector.

Carlos Terol discusses the need for changemakers to connect and collaborate on a whole new level.

Changemakers who are ready to tackle the world's most pressing issues, from poverty to climate change and inequalities need to break out of their silos and collaborate with a wide range a different people. Because everybody plays a role in creating positive changes. Researchers, teachers, politicians, entrepreneurs, marketers, public speakers, and more.

Carlos also describes a platform he is developing to help like-minded changemakers connect on a local and global level. This platform can help local changemakers connect and amplify their impact.

We also discuss the importance of mindset and framing a problem. And much much more.